'Avengers: Infinity War' really let down the Children of Thanos
Spoiler alert for Avengers: Infinity War
Cry all you want at the death-filled finale of Avengers: Infinity War. In truth, the movie's most upsetting move was its treatment of the Children of Thanos.
Let's put aside the comic book source that inspired the Mad Titan's quartet of cronies for a moment. The beings we meet in the movie are cool characters unto themselves.
Cull Obsidian, the big, Hulk-like alien with his hammer-whip-thing. Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight, sci-fi staff-wielding acrobats that exude skill and menace in equal measures. Ebony Maw -- creepy AF, hyper-intelligent, clearly the most sadistic member of the group.
Together, the four of them deliver the first real supervillain team in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And by the time the credits roll, they're all dead.
Such a waste. Ebony Maw, tragically, goes first. It's such an ignominious defeat, too. After kicking the crap out of Iron Man and Doctor Strange and Wong and Spider-Man back on Earth, all it takes is one pop culture reference from Spidey and one well-placed mini-rocket from Iron Man.
Boom. Sucked into space, frozen and dead. The horror.
The other three last for much longer, but only because their appearances in the movie are so limited. Cull Obsidian goes first, stuck in a flying Hulkbuster gauntlet as it drags him along the outer reaches of Wakanda's defensive shield. He burns up and then explodes.
Proxima Midnight goes next. Black Widow and Okoye trade blows in a 2-on-1 showdown, but it's Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, who gets the last laugh. Just as it looks like Proxima is going to end Widow, POOF. A bit of cosmic magic sends her sailing up into one of those giant spikey-wheeled tank-things.
Corvus Glaive eats it in the very next scene. He and Steve Rogers seem evenly matched, trading blows in the forest on the outskirts of Wakanda. The slugfest almost turns against our former Captain America, but the Vision swoops in with a last-minute save, running Corvus through with his own space staff.
Lame. The MCU has often struggled to create strong villains in the past. For every Loki there's a Yellowjacket and a Whiplash and an Abomination. (Can you even remember which movies each of those came from off the top of your head?)
Hela was great. Vulture was great. Killmonger was extra great. All the rest (minus Loki, of course)... meh.
The unjust murders of the Children of Thanos become especially distressing if you know anything about their comic book selves, where they're collectively known as the Black Order.
The foursome isn't all that different in the comics on the surface. Cull Obsidian's comic book name is Black Dwarf. The comics also establish that Corvus and Proxima are married. But those two have their space staves. Comic book Ebony Maw is still this creepy, gaunt mad scientist from space. Black Dwarf is probably the most different -- his axe isn't nearly as high-tech as Cull's... whatever that thing is -- but he's still the hulking brute of the group.
What sets them apart then? The comics give each character more room to breathe, of course. They talk a whole lot more, they interact with other familiar characters -- they generally just have much more distinct personalities.
But they're also badass. They're the top generals and warriors in Thanos's space army. They're beings that are definitively and without question Not To Be Fucked With.
When Ebony Maw captured Doctor Strange in the New Avengers series, there was no escape. Maw bent Strange to his will, got what he wanted, then wiped the Sorcerer Supreme's memory so he wouldn't know what had happened.
That's the kind of threat they represent. Each member of the Black Order exudes a fearsome presence every time they appear on the page. They're spooky and mysterious, yes, but they're also powerful. They can go toe-to-toe with Earth's Mightiest Heroes... and walk away victorious.
All throughout the life of the MCU, ideas have been plucked from the comics and altered to suit the stories Marvel Studios wants to tell. And that's completely fine -- it's worked out really well so far, clearly. But it's also a shame that this time it left us with a movie version of the Black Order that seems to waste all the inherent potential of these characters.
It's always a bad idea to carry your expectations from the comics into an MCU release, and that's especially true in Avengers: Infinity War. But it's still hard to accept the idea that such a memorable piece of Marvel Comics lore is just one-and-done villain at the movies.
Find showtimes and theaters for Avengers: Infinity War near you.
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
